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The Devastating Story Of The Utah Town That Vanished Overnight

Utah has several notable ghost towns, including Grafton, and Frisco. While most of these little towns boomed with mining and went bust when the mines closed, there’s one ghost town in the Beehive State that met a much more tragic end. Here’s the devastating story of a little Utah town that vanished overnight.

The little town of Thistle was established in 1878, and was a quiet farming town until the railroad came through in the early 1900s. The steam-powered train engines stopped in Thistle for water, and the town briefly boomed a bit, with over 600 residents, a train depot, general store, restaurants, post office, saloon, and pool hall.

After the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad switched from steam to diesel engines, its trains no longer needed to stop in Thistle, and the town's residents began to leave. By 1983, only 22 homes were occupied.

After a winter with heavy snowpack and a spring of heavy rainfall, by mid-April of 1983, the ground was saturated, and the railroad track in the area had started to buckle and warp. Rio Grande officials flew in to take a look, and closed down their operations on the evening of April 14th. The town was evacuated on April 17th, and residents had just two hours to gather their possessions and leave. Luckily, everyone was evacuated safely.

A massive landslide blocked off the Spanish Fork River, and completely flooded the town. Here's an aerial photo taken in 1983 that shows the landslide, and the resulting lake that covered the town of Thistle.

The tiny town of Thistle had been completely wiped out overnight, and both federal and state officials quickly came to the conclusion that it wasn't feasible to dig out the landslide, and that the town and its buildings were a complete loss.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the landslide that wiped out Thistle was the most expensive in American history. As you can see from these two maps, the rail line, US-6 and US-89 were all rerouted. The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad estimated its losses at $80 million, and the overall costs were estimated as high as $400 million.

Writer, editor and researcher with a passion for exploring new places. Catherine loves local bookstores, independent films, and spending time with her family, including Gus the golden retriever, who is a very good boy.